In any business, the procurement of products and services is likely to be a complicated process. Existing procurement methods involve handling a variety of documents, such as requests for purchase, purchase orders, purchase order change notices, and the like. These documents are printed and mailed or hand-delivered to various personnel types, such as managers, buyers, and suppliers. Each personnel type makes appropriate decisions, some based on information that is different than that used by other personnel types and some that are based on information that is global to more than one personnel type. Each personnel type uses or adds data contained in the procurement documents. During the process, a variety of retainment, copy, and attachment requirements apply to the different documents.
A need exists for an automated procurement system that reduces paper and provides electronic routing of appropriate information to all who are involved in the process. Ideally, the system should provide the information as needed by each person, with as little intervention by these users as possible.
One difficulty of providing such a system is related to the difficulty of transferring data among different computer systems. Existing computer systems are often categorized into three primary groups: mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers. Each of these groups uses different operating systems and different data formats. Although significant advances have been made in networks that link computers that are designed for compatibility, not all computer systems are easily linked and as a result, data transfer from one type of system to another is difficult.
Another difficulty in providing an automated procurement system is overcoming long-standing traditional methods of handling and routing documents. The system must provide an interface to the buyer that is easy to use, yet fulfills the demands of what can become a complex pattern of back and forth paper trails. In data processing involving the manipulation of large amounts of data, mainframe computer systems have traditionally been used. However, most advances in interactive data entry and decision-making have been in connection with smaller computer systems, often microcomputer or minicomputer-based and referred to as workstations.
An object of the invention is to combine the advantages of database capacity using mainframe computers and the advantages of user-interfacing using workstations, for automating the procurement process.